[center][h1][color=6ecff6]Mike, the Hermit[/color][/h1]
[i][color=gray]Interacting with:[/color][/i] Mia[sub][@Cio][/sub][/center][hr]
Mike laid ragtag in his bed. The screen of his computer was about the only thing that illuminated his room. He snored gently away. Until his slumber was disrupted by incessant buzzing. Slowly his mind rose from the depth of a wonderful dream. Very slowly. With a hand, he grasped towards the general direction of the noise: his phone. He caught it the third time around. It kept on buzzing in his hand. Slowly his drowsy brain realized what that meant: MsFortune. A surge of adrenaline shook him completely awake. No slow rise and shine. Like he was under attack he shot up and opened the post. Nothing about him, from the looks of it. Just something about the Elites. Who were the Elites? He had heard rumors about them. Last school year. Whispers were spoken. Someone whose niece who was roommates with a former senior who used to love a girl who said she overheard a guy claiming knew who Miss Fortune was apparently said something. But as with all rumors, there was just no way to be certain. Alas, Mike let out a little chuckle. It would seem these Elites would be targeted now by Miss Fortune for the coming year. Rather content he fell back onto his bed. There was just no way he was part of that group. He wasn’t Elite. He was boring. With boring parents and a boring summer job and boring weekend plans. Well, that last bit wasn’t entirely true. Amongst the League of Bro’s (an ironic name that became just a little bit less ironic over time), there was no such thing as boring plans. They had a knack for making things happen. Perhaps Jayden or Theo were part of the Elites. That wouldn’t surprise him. But no, not Mike.

He would cruise through this last year, get a proper job at some big bank in London, go to a proper university (so either Cambridge or Oxford, probably Oxford. His father was an Oxford man) and, gods be willing, he might get a proper girlfriend. After all that he would get a boring job at a boring office, become a boring bank manager before thirty and then…well he would figure that out then. So with his nerves relaxed he got washed and dressed. He decided against checking up on Jayden. He didn’t particularly feel a need to check in with Jayden. As for the MsFortune, he was sure that whatever small, inconspicuous surprise she had for the Elites at the entrance of the Festival would be traveling like digital fire. He didn’t care though. Not today.

More than a little bit put at ease he exited the room and headed for the entrance of the festival. Like any good introvert, he just wanted to find his friends and passively observe everything. Instead, several heads turned towards him. He noticed it quickly. There was something paranoid in his brain that always told him people were looking at him. Like something was wrong. Long ago he learned it was best not to listen to paranoia. Yet now he felt that little voice getting louder and louder in the back of his head. Reinforced by proof: people were really turning their heads towards him. Then the murmuring began. Was it about him? Was it about something else? He didn’t know. No, no it was about something else. He kept repeating that until he encountered a real throng of people, gathered around a notice board. That was strange. Rarely did the school post anything this interesting. Then he remembered MsFortune’s post. Was she that brazen?

He pushed himself through the crowd. Curiosity fuelling him more than it should. Perhaps Jayden or Theo were on the board. When he finally saw it, it send a shiver down his spine.

[indent]Hermit.[/indent]
He was in her crosshairs now. Worse, so were all his friends. Mia, Salem, Elliot. All of them! Only one word echoed through his head: Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit shit. No, he didn’t want his proverbial closet skeleton to be pulled up for all the school to see. He didn’t want his friends to get hurt either. MsFortune was sometimes seen as just a light-hearted prank. Not to Mike. He had seen entire friendships get sundered by MsFortune releasing secret after secret.

From the corner of his eyes, he noticed someone he instantly recognized. For someone like Mike, catching people in a crowd wasn’t that hard. He made his way through the crowd again until he reached her. [color=6ecff6][b]”Mia!”[/b][/color] He waved to greet her. He didn’t give a hand or a hug. The whole touchy stuff just wasn’t for him. [color=6ecff6][b]“You know what all this is about?”[/b][/color] He asked as he pointed at the billboard.